Communities around the Volta River, major mining sites, and cocoa farming areas in Ghana are considered labor trafficking-hotspot zones for children (Koomson et al., 2022). Thousands of children are trafficked into these communities daily. This study explored the experiences of practitioners involved in child trafficking interventions in the “zoned” areas on the practical they are able to successfully identify traffickers and rescue victims in a culturally sensitive way. The study sought to answer two main questions: What strategies are used to identify and rescue trafficked children? What immediate actions do practitioners take when child victims of trafficking are rescued? Evidence was gathered from fifteen experts in Ghana by means of semi-structured qualitative interviews. Narratives were analyzed thematically following reflexive thematic analysis procedures. Expert opinions were constantly sought throughout data analysis. The study identified three inter-locking culturally sensitive approaches used to rescue and protect victims of trafficking in Ghana: 1) community engagements and participatory efforts, 2) the use of private investigators, and 3) the provision of after-care support to rescued children through placing them in care homes where they are prepared for reunification with their families. Despite the robustness of these intervention techniques, the findings revealed that there are still challenges of acute family poverty, cultural practices like fosterage and trokosi, and lack of knowledge on trafficking which stand in the way of reaching the prevention and protection mandate of trafficking. The study concludes with some policy and practice implications and suggestions for further studies in Ghana.

Presentation Objectives:

· Provide an overview of the study, main questions, and methodology

· Present findings on child trafficking intervention approaches in Ghana

· Discuss the structural and systemic challenges that hinder effective child trafficking interventions in Ghana

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This session presents the scientific framework created over 29 years of supporting women whose victimization manifested as torture (non-State torture) inflicted against them as children within families or within spousal relationships. It shares the importance of validation by creating a caring environment that enables women’s truth- telling. Ground-breaking models identify the criminal actions of torturer-traffickers (Sarson & MacDonald, 2021; 2019; 2018; 2016; 2009) and includes women’s drawings, shared with consent, which gives witness to their victimizations but also voices the harmful impacts on their relationship with/to/for self. Discussed are principles developed that guide non-state torture (NST) victimization-traumatization informed care including naming women’s survival responses as post-traumatic stress responses (PTSR) and explanatory models acknowledging women’s evilism anxieties (Sarson & MacDonald, 2021). “Re-building” women’s sense of personhood involves doing the opposite of what non-state torturers do because family-based torturer-traffickers intentionally attempt to destroy the personality of the girl’s or woman’s sense of being human but explaining that torture is a violation of their human rights is a healing intervention.

Presentation Objectives:

· Define torture perpetrated within families by sharing individual women’s ordeals to help illustrate the actions or modus operandi of the perpetrators

· Explain how women’s PTSR will assist promoting insights into the normalization of women’s survival responses and assist in their recovery

· Discuss key principles developed that guide NST victimization-traumatization informed care to help build resilience for both the women victimized and the carer

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Young people’s perspectives on sex trading contexts and terminology, as well as providers’ screening practices, are critically lacking. This community-based research study aimed to examine the contexts and conditions under which young people trade sex as well as the strategies used to screen for sex trafficking and sex trading, from the perspectives of young people with lived experiences. The presenters used a cross sectional survey of young people (ages 16-29) who had lived experiences of sex trading and/or homelessness. Quantitative and qualitative questions explored youths’ perceptions of: (1) sex trading type, compensation, and meaning; (2) recommended inclusive practices to increase youths’ comfort in disclosing sex trading; and (3) known sex trafficking indicators. Participants (N=103; Mage = 22.9 [SD = 3.5]; 34% white, 55% ciswomen/21% trans or gender expansive; 39% heterosexual) reported engaging in virtual and in-person sex acts with diverse compensation forms. Results suggest that “sex trading” signified multiple meanings, ranging from sex work/occupation to exploitation/trafficking. Youth indicated that they felt more comfortable disclosing if the provider indicated that they would advocate for them if they are victims of discrimination. Compared to cisgender youth, trans youth reported feeling significantly more comfortable disclosing sexual activity when a service provider presented or used gender/sexuality inclusive indicators. This study reveals new insights about the type of sex acts exchanged, forms of compensation, and meanings of language used to assess sex trading in research and practice. Providers must use inclusive practice strategies and sex trafficking indicators to ultimately reduce potential harm among youth who trade sex.

Presentation Objectives:

· Provide a nuanced understanding of the sex trade and the practices used to assess sex trading from the perspectives of young people with lived experiences

· Describe recommendations for practitioners who encounter young people who trade sex (including those who are sex trafficked)

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The FOCUS on Runaways Project is a collaborative program to locate and provide services to runaway youth and their families to prevent sex trafficking and drug addiction in Lucas County. The program centers on initial assessment, referral, and follow-up assessment to evaluate the impact of a particular human trafficking intervention on reducing risk of human trafficking for youth who run away from home. Year one of the project utilized a community-based policing approach, while year two utilized a community-based agency approach. This presentation will provide an overview of the project, highlight the role and value of process and outcomes evaluation, utilize data to compare approaches and outcomes in year 1 and year 2 of the project, and provide recommendations for best practices regarding program evaluation.

Presentation Objectives:

· Provide an overview of the scope of the FOCUS on Runaways Project

· Provide an overview of the role and purpose of process and outcomes evaluation

· Utilize data to compare two the approaches (law enforcement vs. community-based) to human trafficking prevention as utilized in the project in years 1 and

· Highlight the results of the process and outcomes evaluation

· Provide recommendations for best practices of evaluating collaborative, community-based human trafficking initiatives

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In 2021, Jessa Dillow Crisp was asked by the Department of State Trafficking in Person’s Office to write a special box for their TIP Report on the intersection of trauma-informed care and survivor-centered practices. Through the process of research and engaging with both survivors and NGOs across the U.S., the common theme within anti-trafficking programs across the nation is the idea that having a survivor in a leadership position equates trauma-informed care. Sadly, this approach not only causes harm to the survivors providing guidance, but it creates a place where individuals are often re-traumatized due to the lack of trauma-informed care they are receiving. During this session, learn best practices and an ethical framework on intersecting survivor leadership with trauma-informed practices.

Presentation Objectives:

· Define survivor-leadership and trauma-informed care

· Discuss the importance of intentionally intersecting survivor-leadership and trauma-informed care

· Describe an ethical framework for intersecting survivor leadership with trauma-informed practices

· Share tangible examples of ways that this intersection has been done well

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Individuals involved in the life of human trafficking are susceptible to various forms of abuse, both physical, mental, and emotional that may require medical treatment. Lack of provider knowledge of trafficking and trauma-informed care could lead to poorly coordinated, fragmented service, negatively affecting the patient (Recknor, et al., 2020). This presentation begins by motivating providers to begin patient care at the point of entry by asking the question, “Who is in your waiting room?” From the waiting room, the presenters take participants on a journey through barriers to identification, red-flag indicators, assessment, and intervention based on lived experience. Knowing not all individuals may be ready for intervention and/or assistance, trauma-informed care is a major theme throughout the presentation. Understanding the intent of care is to provide intervention; this presentation helps providers understand how to “respect the no” using a trauma-informed approach. The importance of using this approach is heard not only through the voices of the nurses presenting, but also the survivor who openly reflects on, and shares, a number of past experiences of being treated in the healthcare setting. In addition to recognition and intervention, discussion will also include the need for continuing education, hospital policy development, when to involve law enforcement, as well as the need for community engagement and survivor input. By completion of this presentation, providers will be inspired not only to consider who is entering their waiting room, but also who is exiting their care and what difference they can make.

Presentation Objectives:

· Discuss red flags and barriers to identification of sex trafficking in a clinical setting

· Explain the importance of using a trauma informed approach when caring for human trafficking patients

· Describe resources available to support and care for human trafficking patients

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Literature review highlights the crucial importance of community integration for successful recovery in survivors of trafficking and scarcity of community integration programs (Shigekane, 2007; Wickham, 2009). The time-efficient, cost-effective Community Living Integration Club (CLIC) emerged as a doctoral capstone. The format encompassed 10 women in a residential recovery program participating in a six-week trauma-informed, client-driven club comprised of discussion topics and community-based activities to facilitate community integration. CLIC members selected six discussion topics, including felon-friendly housing, personal relationships, and community activities. Members generated plans for exploring these options in the local community. Transition Behavior Scales-3 (TBS-3) and Canadian Occupational Performance Measure (COPM), both with self-report, provided reliable outcomes. Objective findings, along with pre-club and post-club subjective reviews, provided additional outcomes. CLIC outcomes showed specific improvements in skills in some participants. Qualitative findings showed improvements in 80% of participants in self-reported needs and goals. The Club provided opportunities for members to generate plans for life in their community after completion of the recovery program. The CLIC offers a time-efficient, cost-effective, trauma-informed, occupation-based, client-centered approach in the under-served and under-funded area of community integration. This presentation includes interactive discussion of methods to incorporate this program into multiple settings and adapt to various genders, cultures, ethnicities, and ages.

Presentation Objectives:

· Present a short summary of evidence for lack of community integration services

· Describe short-term, client-centered group experiences and findings

· Assist attendees to determine applications of CLIC to various cultures, genders, ages, settings, and ethnicities

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It is difficult to always determine if child abuse happened and if or how it happened. It is not usually difficult to determine who was abused. Systems often rely on interviews with those involved, assessments, investigations, and evidence to determine who the victim was, who the perpetrator was, the situation, and needs of the family. Less is known about how much professionals rely on informal cues, their gut reactions, and their intuition regarding certain cases. Consider an unlikely case study of abuse, not by an individual perpetrator, but by the system. System-imposed trauma is a set of circumstances in which the system, believing they are right, uses their power and authority to victimize and traumatize the innocent. In our efforts to protect vulnerable children against perpetrators, we can inadvertently do the wrong thing and thereby become the perpetrator that traumatizes others. The purpose of this session is to remind us that when we are passionate, committed to helping others, and sometimes overzealous, we need to proceed with caution so that we do not hurt the innocent in the process.

Presentation Objectives:

· Increase awareness about system-imposed trauma

· Showcase the devastating effects of system-imposed trauma

· Discuss how to increase the odds of providing safety and support to children in need

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We live under the shroud of rape culture. Sexual violence is “any sexual act, attempt to obtain a sexual act, unwanted sexual comments or advances, or acts to traffic, or otherwise directed against a person’s sexuality…by any person regardless of their relationship to the victim, in any setting” (World Health Organization, 2014, p. 76). In the United States, someone is sexually assaulted every 73 seconds (RAINN, 2020). Such prevalence makes clear that addressing sexual violence, including sex trafficking, from a social justice standpoint is crucial. Yet, so is meeting the needs of individuals. While sexual violence runs amuck, those impacted are left traumatized, seeking help and refuge. Far too often, psychotherapeutic treatment and other direct services treat the symptoms, but not the cause; namely, the trauma. The Sexual Violence ALERT Points are core elements which can be incorporated into direct service provision to maximize healing from sex trafficking and other sexual violence forms (Rose, 2022). Focused on Assessment, Language, Engagement, Roles, and Trauma Treatment, the ALERT Points can be incorporated into existing theoretical approaches and services. In so doing, helping individuals heal more effectively is possible. This presentation seeks to aid direct service providers with foundational principles when working with those who have experienced sexual violence, including sex trafficking. Most importantly, information will be shared for how to provide effective psychotherapy and other service provision to support healing of sexual violence survivors and thrivers. Specific tools and resources will also be provided.

Presentation Objectives:

· Provide and illustrate an effective approach to aid those healing after sexual violence in psychotherapy and other direct services

· Define and describe the Sexual Violence ALERT Points and their use in psychotherapy and other direct service provision

· Summarize and encourage specific trauma-informed care of sexual violence survivors and thrivers

· Provide tangible tools resources that can be used in treatment immediately

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